Cong MPs from Telangana meet PM

Making a strong pitch for the creation of a separate state soon, Congress members of Parliament from Telangana region on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who told them the government is working for a solution to the vexed issue.

"We met the prime minister today and apprised him of the seriousness of the on-going agitation for Telangana. The prime minister said it is a serious situation and the government is working for a solution to the problem. He also expressed concern over the deaths of people during the agitation," Nizamabad MP Madhu Yaski Goud said.

The MPs have also plans to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the issue, Goud said, adding it will happen when they get an appointment.

The MPs also met the All India Congress Committee-in charge of Andhra Pradesh M Veerappa Moily.

"Our demands are that the time frame for a decision on the issue should be minimised and Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement made on December 9 last year over the issue of creating a separate state should be included in the terms of reference for the Srikrishna Commission constituted by the Centre to look into the issue," Goud said.

He said that over six MPs including him wore black shirt while waving placards for Telangana state during the President Pratibha Patil's joint address to both Houses of the Parliament, which had no mention to Telangana.

The Congress leader dismissed the suggestions that this in any way lowered the dignity of Parliament saying it was Gandhian way of peaceful protest.

"We expressed our protest for non-mentioning of Telangana in the President's speech today. We also held a two minute silence outside Parliament to mourn the death of a student in Osmania University, Hyderabad, who had put himself on fire while agitating for Telangana," Goud said.

Earlier, all the 17 Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha including Ponnam Prabhakar, Girish Sanghi and S Satyanarayana protested outside Parliament shouting 'Jai Telangana' and 'Jai Congress' slogans.

They said they would continue the agitation till their demand is met and if required they would quit from the party.

Goud alleged that the agitation held in Andhra and Raelseema regions against the creation of Telangana is not genuine and the leaders from Andhra region as well as some police officers of the state are giving the Centre wrong inputs about the Telangana agitation and thus the Centre is getting a bad name due to acting on their feedback.

"The agitation for Telangana is going on for two months but unfortunately, it is not drawing the attention of the central government," he said.

When asked whether he feels that his party is not supportive on the issue. Goud said, "We believe Telangana can be created only under Congress rule. Even the TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao has trust over Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Only Sonia Gandhi can do something and we have full trust in her."